Hands-on with Ace Attorney Miles Edgeworth, talk with producer

As much as I loved the Ace Attorney series, Capcom needed to take it in another direction. I loved the trilogy starring Phoenix Wright, but the fourth installment with Apollo Justice and Wright as a mentor was disappointing.

Don’t get me wrong. I still appreciated all the neurotic characters and insane court cases, but by the fourth game, it seemed as if designer Shu Takumi was running out of ideas and he took Wright as far as he would go. I love the spiky-haired attorney to death, but there comes a time when all good things come to an end, and for Phoenix, it would have been great to see him ride off into the sunset with Trials and Tribulations.

If fans were going to get more “Objections!” and find more courtroom contradictions, it seems as if it would have to come from another source. And it seems natural and fitting that the next chapter in the series stars Wright’s fiercest rival and greatest ally.

I had a chance to play Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth at the Comic Con, and though Takumi isn’t working on this one, the series looks to be in good hands with producer Motohide Eshiro and company.

Taking place after Trials and Tribulations but before Apollo Justice, Ace Attorney Investigations puts players in Edgeworth’s prosecutorial shoes. He’s a very different character from the unorthodox and brash defense attorney. Edgeworth is calm, cool and most importantly logically. That’s one of the biggest differences in how this installment plays.
“In this game, Miles Edgeworth can investigate the actual crime scene and a lot of information is there,” Eshiro said. “He can integrate two pieces of information together and get new evidence.”
In the demo, it works like this: At the murder scene, Edgeworth finds a dead detective. He also finds a revolver that’s standard issue for officers in the force. Naturally, through the logic minigame, the prosecutor puts two and two together and comes up with a new fact about the case: The murder weapon belonged to the detective.

Along with the new logic system, players will also be able to move the protagonist. By pushing the stylus or pressing the D-pad, players will explore the world in a way they couldn’t before. It’s an idea that came to Eshiro a while ago. “During the product development of Trials and Tribulations, I got an idea,” he said. “I wanted to create a new series, which has a taste of the previous series, but with more action element, which ended up being Miles Edgeworth.”

The game doesn’t feel static any more. Players don’t navigate pictures. Instead, they’ll see officers moving paintings or dusting for prints. Everything looks more alive . But from the looks of it, Edgeworth doesn’t seem as if he’ll be making it to the courtroom. From what I played, the cross examination is at the crime scene as Edgeworth delved into the facts behind the case and interrogated the prosecutor who was his suspect.

I can confirm that Maggey Byrde makes an appearance. Detective Gumshoe has a prominent role, but when I asked Eshiro if a certain defense attorney would be making a cameo in the upcoming game, he was mum.

As for the music, there’s a new soundtrack to go along with the game. This time around, the team will use the same composer who did the background songs for Trials and Tribulations. And just for kicks, I asked about the voice work. Eshiro said the returning cast members will do the same characters, but he said they haven’t picked anyone for the new characters.

I was hoping to hear more Capcom alumni lending their talents to the latest game. I got a kick out of hearing that Hideki Kamiya voiced Godot in Trials and Tribulations.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is scheduled for release February 2010.

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